I wish to share my time with Deputy Browne (Carlow Kilkenny).
Adjournment Debate. - Personal Assistance Service.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I raise this matter because the importance of Government action on this issue goes way beyond its implications for the individuals who yesterday lost their basic personal assistance service. In light of outstanding Government commitments, the imminent production of a number of important reports and the widely accepted need to radically alter support services for people with disabilities, the Government's response to this need has a larger significance.
Many Deputies may not be aware of the developing idea of personal assistants and their role in helping people with significant disabilities to achieve personal independence. A personal assistant assists an individual with a disability with every aspect of daily living such as personal care, household tasks, assistance in college, the workplace, driving and interpretation. The model with which I am most familiar is that developed by the Centre for Independent Living through its INCARE programme. It stresses the control of the process by the individual and the need for high quality training. This programme, which was originally supported with funding from a former Minister for Social Welfare, Deputy Woods, has shown dramatic results. Participants in the pilot programme were more likely to progress their education and maintain employment. However, most importantly, they have developed personally, moving away from passive dependence and enjoying a sense of personal freedom which they could not have imagined before they got involved.
Personal assistance service was referred to an advisory group by the last Minister for Health. This group reported to the Minister last year and while its recommendations have been circulated to some interested parties, they have not been made available. I understand the group strongly supported the development of personal assistance services and specifically recommended the provision of £5 million for the development of such services for people with physical disabilities. Action has not yet been taken on foot of the report. Following a difficult period last year, funding for the INCARE pilot programme has been main-streamed by the Department of Health through the Irish Wheelchair Association.
The specific case I am raising concerns seven people who will lose their personal assistants today if action is not taken immediately. The people are all in the process of completing a course in social studies in the National College of Industrial Relations. The course, accredited by the NCEA, relates to disability studies and, in particular, to issues arising from independent living. To be able to participate on this course the students needed personal assistants in whose training they played an integral part. The assistants were trained, but they will now lose out.
As the course has been completed, the initial funding for the personal assistants which came through the NRB, an agency of the Department of Health, has run out. The official funding ran out in February and since then the Centre for Independent Living has been funding the project. However, that funding is no longer available. Yesterday seven people who have been trained to provide this service became unemployed and seven people who were benefiting from this service had their ability to be independent snatched from them.
One of those people affected wrote to me. She stated:
Before starting this course many of us were today dependent on our family and friends for our personal needs and social outlets. A lot of us had been trying to further our education so it would give us a better opportunity for employment. But without the availability of our personal assistants this was not realistically possible. Having a personal assistant has made a huge difference to our lives. We have become more independent and less reliant on our families.
I put it to the Minister that the right policy on personal assistance is obvious. I have already mentioned the advisory group's report. I appeal to the Minister to give a practical demonstration of the Government's commitment to action on personal assistance by providing the necessary funding to make sure that the personal assistance service which has done so much for those individuals is reinstated. He can show his good faith by announcing he will make temporary funding available for these seven people. For 12 months this would have a tiny net cost for the Exchequer but it would be a powerful statement that the Government intends to properly support the personal independence and empowerment of people with disabilities.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): I thank Deputy Mary Wallace for allowing me to support the case she has made for people who have shown tremendous courage in the face of their disabilities. These people are intelligent and were in good jobs but they now need personal help. I ask the Minister for Health to do all he can to restore the help they received, which they badly need.
, Limerick East): I wish to set in context the question raised by the Deputy concerning the provision of personal assistance services to persons who have recently completed a disabilities studies course in the National College of Industrial Relations. Funding for these personal assistants, who were required for the duration of the course, was provided by FÁS and the European Social Fund to enable the students to participate in the course. As the course has ended, funding from FÁS and the ESF is no longer available for this service. I understand that temporary funding has been provided by the Centre for Independent Living for the personal assistance service for these students.
The position regarding the availability to such services to the wider disabled community is that limited personal assistance service is currently available to persons who participated in the Centre for Independent Living horizon pilot project. The INCARE project did not include the students concerned. That two-year project ended in December 1994. I agreed to fund the continuation of this service, on a pilot basis, to the existing participants pending an examination of the whole question of personal assistance services. It is not intended at this point to provide additional places pending a decision on the extension of the personal assistance service.
An advisory group was established to report to me on future policy of providing and developing a personal assistance service to enable persons with physical disabilities to live independently. Specifically, the group was asked to examine the personal assistance services provided by the Centre for Independent Living under its INCARE programme, the current and likely future demand for such a service, the model and organisation of service which should be provided, taking particular account of cost effectiveness, and the estimated cost of the service.
The advisory group agreed that the independent living model can offer a higher degree of social gain to individuals than the residential model. However, it considered it essential that any independent living scheme be properly structured and administered. Accordingly, the report's recommendations in relation to the provision of a personal assistance service include the matter of fundraising, departmental responsibilities and the introduction of an assessment procedure. The aim of this procedure would be to assess the dependency and levels of service needs of each applicant as well as to determine the capacity of the applicant to manage a personal assistant.
The report was circulated as a discussion document to interested parties who were invited to comment on the report's recommendations and on the development of a personal assistance service by the end of February this year. These comments have now been received and are being examined by my Department in conjunction with a cost benefit analysis of personal assistance services which was independently commissioned by my Department. This cost benefit analysis is essential from the point of view of considering the cost of establishing such a service and the equity of providing a high cost total independence service for a relatively small number of people against the benefits of providing other less costly supports to a far greater number of people with disabilities.
In the meantime, I have asked officials in my Department to discuss the case raised by the Deputy with the health board concerned.